Holly

Stephen King’s latest release won’t be for everyone, but I loved it! Holly features one of my favorite King characters, Holly Gibney. We were first introduced to her in the Bill Hodges trilogy (beginning with Mr. Mercedes, then Finders Keepers, and End of Watch). She took on a more prominent role in The Outsider and If it Bleeds. This is her first feature novel. It takes place during the pandemic and is a great time capsule of what it felt like to exist during that event. What begins as an investigation into the disappearance of one young woman broadens to a series of missing people with seemingly very few things in common.

I really loved how the perpetrators (revealed early to the readers) are unlikely and easily overlooked. I enjoyed spending time with other beloved characters, siblings Jerome and Barbara. Even though I knew who the antagonists were as the reader, it added to the tension and propelled the story along. There were enough details that were left as a mystery to keep me turning the pages and caring about the outcome. I especially loved the way the novel wrapped up with an extremely effective conclusion. 👌🏼

Spoiler free warning - this book is more gruesome than many of King’s recent books have been. Parts of it are really gross. It also includes a lot of political commentary that I find quite accurate as a liberal American, but which seems to easily trigger very conservative people. King has always been liberal in his politics included in his books, so I’m not sure why this one in particular is ruffling so many feathers, but it seems to do that. This book contains spoilers for all the previous Holly Gibney books, so I wouldn’t read this one until you have read the 5 previous books.

All in all, I loved it! If you are King fan who loves this character, you will not want to miss this release. However, if you are new to King and want to try him out, I definitely wouldn’t start here. 😆

Stephen King has had a terrific, terrible and so-so writing career. His success has always been there (well at least since Carrie) as a bestselling author but the books themselves could vary in quality depending on what part of his career they were written in; early on great books like Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, The Dark Half and The Stand could be frightening, epic and hugely entertaining. There was a period where King’s books suffered from bloat, poor endings and even where the author didn’t remember much about writing the books (when he was in the depths of drug dependency).

His return to form produced some marvelous novels and that included his Bill Hodges trilogy which followed a former police officer trying to track down a homegrown serial killer/terrorist. He is ably assisted by autistic Holly Gibney in tracking down the killer. Holly would reappear a novella and the novel The Outsider. She remains 0ne of Kimg’s best, most detailed characters.

Holly finally gets her own novel. In the novel, Holly is hired to track down a woman who has vanished leaving a note on her bike that says “I’VE HAD ENOUGH’. Holly senses that it is staged and, when she begins unraveling the mystery of her disappearance, finds that there are other related unsolved disappearances in the community.

Unlike some of King’s novels, Holly is sharper and more to the point much like the heroine of the novel. The bloat that sometimes robs some of his most fascinating novels of suspense, is absent here. He does a terrific job with a narrative that remains focused to the very end.

Oh, and as a side note, the cover of the hardcover-the letters glow in the dark. Weird but interesting.

Holly is one of the best stories Stephen King has churned out in at least the past 30 years. I bought it as soon as I learned of it, because I had fallen in love with the character of Holly Gibney via the Mr. Mercedes Trilogy. I was delighted to hear (on a podcast) that the author had done the same. He finally felt obligated to give the gal her own book.

And this is a book with real guts. Not many modern writers dare to focus their strongest opinions into their art. Whenever I would hear an uproar over something King "tweeted", or even something that J.K. Rowling posted on social media, that caused a different flavor of outrage, I would think: I love hearing their opinions, but that isn't the right format for people who have their incredible way with words. And while I had enjoyed some of King's recent books (especially The Institute and his most recent short story collection, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams), I felt like he had fallen victim to the digital era, like basically all the rest of us, and lacked the heart and the grit that he had back in the 1980's or the 70's, when he got started and was still using a manual typewriter (and a lot of substances that I'm glad he left behind . . . simply because I'm glad he is still with us).

This novel proved me wrong, and I loved every minute of being thus put to shame. For one thing, it's a good horror story. Forget that Netflix special about Jeffrey Dahmer. This is the story of a couple of old fogeys who think cannibalism is the fountain of youth and the key to immortality. I don't care who you are, that's unsettling, right there.

It's also an interesting take on a detective novel, as we, the readers, are often privy to information that the detective Holly and the other major characters are oblivious to. There are some incredible moments of suspense because of that. I also enjoyed the format of the story, how it jumps from time frame to time frame so easily, and how those flashbacks and "jumps" work well, so that the story flows smoothly. I found this to be as much a page-turner as some classics I've recently been delving into by Richard Matheson and Cornell Woolrich.

For those who are often turned off by King’s tendency to overwrite, never fear: His new editor has no time for such nonsense. The writing here is concise and tight. And I enjoyed the change of pace. Even though I’m one of those twisted souls who loves his epic-length efforts. Where a lot of people see tangents, I see subtleties of story that other people could appreciate if they only had attention spans.

Moving right along . . .

The reason this book has been so controversial among Stephen King fans is what the author addresses in an afterword, how Holly Gibney's view of the coronavirus outbreak and associated politics happen to jibe with his. He protests that he was not soapboxing. Frankly, I don't give a damn if he was. Dean Koontz has had some definite "soapbox" moments in several of his novels, not only recently, but going back decades. And I don't hear a lot of bitching and moaning about that. In The Other Emily, Koontz reserved the most severe beating of the story for a relatively harmless character who was wearing a "RESIST" T-shirt. If he can promote conservative views with such a vengeance, then Stephen King has every bit as much right to promote his more liberal worldview through what he writes. It's not like he does it all the time, and actually, he has consciously tried to avoid it throughout his career. Even in a book like The Green Mile, he largely left the readers to think about the social issues he brought up for themselves.

I love the way King does it here, because it reminds me of some of the classic science fiction and horror, that did more than just provide a few cheap thrills. Once in a while, it served as a splash of cold water in the face that the world desperately needed. I think of Rod Serling's classic teleplay "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street." I'm not sure anyone before or since has lampooned the McCarthy scare as eloquently as that 30-minute story did. And someone really needed to write a book that did justice to what we all went through with "COVID." Holly delivers on that.

And I say that even though I don't fully agree with all of Holly's (or King’s) views. I personally think one vaccine is enough for most people, and I'm skeptical as to whether they are necessary for children. My views are nuanced. But this is the first novel I've read that does justice to what this four-year ordeal felt like. There were times it truly was hellish, both the virus and the social issues that it exacerbated.

My favorite chapter of this book is also one that shook me to the bones. Just when I was feeling like a wimp, I found that the author's wife had to comfort him through the writing of it, as he mentions in the afterword. Let's just say that just as a pandemic virus has its human impacts, so do serial killers. This story is opposite in tone from the sensationalism of the Dahmer series from Netflix. It forces the reader to slow down and think about what it's like for the victims and their families.

Holly is quite a character, and I can see why she eventually had to have her own book. Some have said you should read all the others before reading this one, but I disagree. I read the Mr. Mercedes Trilogy a few years ago, and I did read The Outsider. But I still haven't read the story "If It Bleeds", which is referenced several times here. And after only a few months, I've forgotten the details of any "spoilers" that were included. I feel confident that when I get around to the Holly story I skipped, I will still thoroughly enjoy it.

King has said that Holly reminded him of Carrie from his debut novel, except that she was able to have some kind of a life despite dealing with the same sorts of issues. I partly agree with this. Though I did go into reading this novel during one of my more cynical frames of mind. And when I pondered how Holly still didn’t have a man in her life in her 50’s, and had to be content with drooling over hot guys from TV shows, I reflected that maybe Carrie White was the more reasonable of the two characters, going out in a blaze of glory.

The only spoiler I’ll give is a counterfeit one: Jerome and Hollyberry never hook up in this book. Sorry to spoil your day. But on a serious note, she is beloved by Jerome and just about everyone who knows her. And just like Sherlock Holmes had his vice of the cocaine bottle, I found it endearing how Holly can never quite manage to kick her cigarette habit. Even as she says nightly prayers for same.

Perhaps it takes a comically neurotic female detective to bring some humanity back to the forefront. Because even as I rolled my eyes at Holly’s habit of saying her prayers every night, I also loved her for her quirks and her sincere intentions. Even as I groaned in disbelief at Holly’s mother refusing to believe she had the coronavirus, saying that it was only the flu, I also felt the deep tragedy of it. After all, I knew someone who thought this virus was a total hoax until he got it; then, as he told me, he would never wish anyone to have to suffer through it. The last several years have often felt (speaking for myself) like petty cruelty and a complete lack of heart were the new normal. People get so caught up in righteous causes now (more like self-righteous causes) that they forget what makes life worth living in the first place. This book captured that theme in the culture beautifully, in the thinking behind these killers, and the extremes they go to. And as I say, it portrayed the pandemic and other social issues realistically. Show me another novel that has done as good a job, and I’ll be very impressed. That’s why my least favorite chapter of this book became my favorite, after I’d recovered from it. (I didn’t find this book an easy read. It wasn’t just a thriller or shocker, not at all, and a lot of the humanity it brought back, while valuable, was also painful.) It is a brief chapter with no fancy words, that describes a hellish situation with as much decency and tact as possible. And it will bring a tear to anyone’s eye – the good kind, the kind that heals. Bottom line, this is a book with guts and a book with heart. Read it if you dare to rediscover your own.

Holly is a tense and taut crime thriller, with a strong horror edge that one would expect from the modern master of the macabre. It features Holly Gibney, and her supporting character, as established in King’s previous outings in this universe, including the Bill Hodges series, and Outsider. Mr. King utilizes the tropes and tactics of a suspense crime thriller to great effect, including withholding information from certain characters, while revealing that information to others (and the readers), giving our protagonist some flaws, as well as some sympathetic traits to the villains (though not many), and of course, the breakneck escalating pacing King is famous for. These elements combined provide for a quick, brutal, yet somehow enduring crime tale set in a very modern, very real (uncomfortably so, for some) world, which should not be ignored. This reality and topicality has been a sticking point for some readers, and there’s no ignoring that. The Covid pandemic, the Trump Presidency, and Black Lives Matter protests are all mentioned here, but this story isn’t ABOUT any of those things; in any other regard than how they impact the plot, and how they relate to one of the books themes, in fear of mortality, fear in general, the power of belief, and how that belief, or reality we choose to subscribe to, impacts our actions. That said, a novel or other fictional work was bound to feature these real-world events at some point. My opinion is such that those who avoid a fictional work because they don’t agree with the author’s perceived stance reveal more about themselves than they do about the author or their work. That said, I myself bring my own expectations and bias to the book, as any reader does. Spoiler here, but my mother died, just as Holly’s did in the book. Similar circumstances and even time frame as depicted. I have always been interested in poetry as another character depicted, and my wife is an avid knitter and crocheter, as depicted by a minor character. I’m sure that these similarities influence my interpretation of the work, and possibly enhance or detract from my enjoyment of such. I will say that I found myself engaging with the text quite a bit, rereading previous passages to gain insight, looking up foreign words and phrases, or even words or people that were unfamiliar to me. One does not do that unless they are invested. Ultimately, if Holly is considered polarizing, it is only because it was written and set during a polarizing time. Unlike some authors, King does not flinch away from some of the darker aspects of society (would you really expect the creator of Pennywise, Carrie, Christine and Cujo to do so?), but gives us his own frank take on real world events, as context for a lean and compelling crime tale, with believable and relatable characters, and horrifying human villains. If you’re a supporter of a certain former president or a denier of a recent global pandemic, you may be (pardon the modern vernacular)”triggered” by some of the minor depictions, plot points, etc. found here. If, however, you are one of Mr. King’s “constant readers” and especially if you’ve enjoyed some of his recent crime and suspense novels. You will most certainly enjoy Holly’s self-titled case. 5/5 red balloons.

Holly, dear?

You’ve come a long way, baby!

After about five years of (IMHO) “Meh” work (The last one I truly dug was “Revival! I hated “The Institute” and didn’t even bother reading “Billy Summers, or finishing “Fairy Tale,” an error that may quickly be rectified!), this was a true return to form for “Uncle Stevie.”

I have struggled, over the past few years, since her inception into the King Multiverse, to warm up to the character of Holly Gibney. But I wonder if it’s because she very much reminds me of, well, me. I mean, what reader would like to read about their own most annoying traits in someone else?! I know I certainly wouldn’t frackin’ wanna read about me for nearly 500 pages! I can assure you, as far as fun and excitement goes, that’s right up there with watching someone else play a video game.

I started this novel and, after “The Outsider,” (2018) where I saw a bit of growth, maturity and a quiet dignity in Holly that, hell, I kind of admired; and, well, if you thought she was a badass before, in the Bill Hodges Trilogy, you won’t think twice after this one!! One of the best King Kills™️!! Don’t miss it, kiddies!

Additionally, I enjoyed that King finally wrote a crime/horror novel, without trying to eat his cake and have it, too, resorting to supernatural twists at the end (The entirety of the third novel in the Bill Hodges trilogy, “End of Watch” is just fracking ridiculous!).

This was just a confident, tight-wound cat and mouse thriller that shows just how evil the world has become.

One last quibble: I HATE the fracking’ Present-tense, “This is happening, RIGHT NOW!!”style of narration! It’s supposed to have that black-and-white noir vibe. I get it. I just don’t particularly care for that writing style; just ain’t my rhythm. Ya dig?

That being said, welcome back, Uncle Stevie! This is your best book since “Revival,” nearly a decade ago! That’s a lotta long days and pleasant nights to wait for a nugget of gold like this, Constant Readers!!!!

There have been a gazillion Bill Hodges-type detective characters, out there, in the Crime-Fiction world.

But there is only ONE Holly.

End of story.

PS - A CASTING NOTE: While two separate actresses have played her character (Justine Lupe in “Mr. Mercedes” and Cynthia Erivo in “The Oursider”) there is no fracking justice in world if they don’t cast Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe on the classic TV show “24”) or Holly Hunter.